Have you experienced the challenges of designing and leading online and in-person multi-stakeholder meetings?
Meet Jen…
Jen is a creative project manager who found herself grappling with some real challenges. She felt she was struggling to get people wholeheartedly involved in her meetings, and felt she apologised too much.
She worked in a dynamic corporate ecosystem characterised by diverse teams with distinct and often conflicting objectives. Jen realised she needed to learn how to address challenges professionally while maintaining positive and influential relationships with stakeholders, which often included senior executives.
Stakeholders
Jen focused on her ability to analyse and align with each stakeholder’s unique perspective and priorities. This deeper understanding allowed her to anticipate their requirements more effectively and win their support. She made sure that the “why, what, and how” of the meeting agenda were crystal clear to everyone leading up to and during the meetings she ran. This approach helped improve both the intellectual and emotional engagement among her participants.
Wanting to be fully inclusive, not just because it was a company value, but it was one of hers, Jen actively involved stakeholders by asking some powerful questions and ensuring every voice felt heard. This helped her embrace the collective intelligence of the team and increased their desire to engage and contribute. Soon, Jen was having people approach her to get involved in some of her key projects.
Servant leadership
Jen worked on making herself an authentic champion of the meeting’s purpose, with her focus on inspiring connection and collaboration from everyone. Her leadership style was characterized by a service-orientated, warm, humble approach balanced with a fierce resolve to achieve the overarching goals that the meetings supported.
Communication styles
As she developed, Jen’s prowess as a facilitator improved. She explored different communication styles and learnt how to adapt her approach to resonate with different personalities, whether dealing with people who valued driving the process at speed, those who wanted their voices to be heard, more diplomatic influencers who value harmony, or the more objective and arms-length analysts.
Holistic approach
She learned how to use relatable examples and illustrations that appealed both intellectually and emotionally and helped make complex ideas accessible to everyone.
Jen’s journey as a producer underscores the paramount importance of soft skills in the modern business landscape. Integrating these skills with technical proficiency is the surefire route to success in roles akin to his.
Call to Action
We’d love to hear your insights and strategies for optimising multi-stakeholder meetings and some of the challenges you are facing.
If you get in touch, we can do a FREE introductory review of your experience of meetings and share two or three concrete ways you can improve.
Our work with Jen’s was a truly holistic approach. She has also now involved us to help facilitate sessions with other project managers around the world.
In the world of project management, technical competence is essential, but the impact of human skills are what can elevate meetings to add great value to the modern organisation and the people who attend them.